IDF, PA to finalize deployment in Hebron

New battalion includes 700 PA policemen; city's Jews fear increase of Palestinian arms, power.

By YAAKOV KATZ AND TOVAH LAZAROFF
IDF Hebron great 248.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
IDF Hebron great 248.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
IDF and Palestinian Authority security commanders will meet early next week to finalize the deployment of a new battalion of some 700 PA policemen in Hebron. Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the head of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria, and Col. Udi Ben-Muha, commander of the Judea Brigade, will meet with their Palestinian counterparts to finalize a date for the deployment. There are currently more 2,000 PA policemen in Hebron. The Hebron Jewish community is fearful of any increase of Palestinian arms and police power in Hebron, even if it is intended to prevent Hamas from taking over the Palestinian section of the city. Increased Palestinian arms are dangerous no matter which faction has them, said Hebron Jewish community spokeswoman Orit Struck. Hebron Jews, along with those from Gush Etzion and the South Hebron Hills, have continued to lobby politicians to thwart the moves. On Wednesday, Likud MK Gilad Erdan is expected to tour the city to gather information on the matter. Local settlers have also been speaking with the IDF and the civil administration, Struck said. She added that she believes there is opposition in the army to the move. The proposed deployment, first reported in The Jerusalem Post last month, has angered settlers from Gush Etzion and the South Hebron Hills, who have called it "irresponsible and dangerous." The decision to permit the deployment was made by OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Gadi Shamni to bolster PA President Mahmoud Abbas against Hamas. Meanwhile Thursday, four members of an Islamic Jihad terror cell were arrested in a joint IDF-Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) operation in Kabatiya, south of Jenin. During the operation, soldiers found two 20 kilogram bombs, which were later destroyed by Border Police sappers. Earlier Thursday, troops shot and killed a Palestinian as he was preparing to throw a Molotov cocktail at soldiers in Kafr Malik, northeast of Ramallah. The IDF said he was one of three men an army patrol spotted carrying firebombs under cover of darkness and he was shot after he ignored warning fire. The other two escaped. Palestinian medics identified the dead man as Aziz Yousef, 20, and said his body was handed over by Israeli officials before dawn. During the night, another Palestinian fire-bomber died in a Ramallah hospital after being shot Wednesday during what the IDF said was a mob attack on an army position in the Jalazun refugee camp, 7 km. north of the city. Hospital staff named him as Muhammad Ramahi, 21. The IDF said Ramahi was shot with a blazing firebomb in his hand as he prepared to lob it at soldiers. AP contributed to this report.